Personal Response Systems:
Transforming the Classroom
Through Technology
Jim Boyle, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Strathclyde
st
1
Year Interactive Mechanics
• Large class format (two sections of 130)
• Three Approaches:
– Peer Assessment (Electronic Voting Systems)
– Self Assessment (Certainty-Based Marking with
EVS & Online Homework System)
– Graded Online Homework System
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1st Year Interactive Mechanics
• 2005/06 1st Semester as normal:
– 5 fortnightly written homework
– 2hr Class Test
• 2005/06 2nd Semester:
– 4 Mastering Physics Homework
– Mock Certainty-Based Marking with EVS
– 1hr Class Test
• Considerable reduction in staff time
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Certainty - Based Marking (CBM)
A student who can discriminate between reliable and unreliable
answers deserves more credit than one who cannot, even when each
gets the same number of answers correct.
CBM marks each answer according to the student’s degree of
certainty that the answer is correct.
Degree of
Certainty :
10
C=1
(low)
C=2
(mid)
C=3
(high)
No Reply
Mark if correct:
1
2
3
0
Penalty if wrong:
0
-2
-6
0
CBM rewards students who can reflect to the point that they can
either : (a) justify confidence in answers, or (b) identify reasons for
reservation.
It is motivating – always rewarding honest reporting of confidence.
Electronic Voting Systems:
Teaching by Questioning
• The benefits of teaching by questioning are now widely
recognized and the technique is becoming widely used
• The disciplines include physics, chemistry,
mathematics, biology, sociology, economics, political
science, business negotiation, history and school
reading comprehension
• A recent Harvard survey indicated over 1,000
instructors use the technique, with about 600 using a
variation called Peer Instruction
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How do you ask the questions?
• Amherst Question Cycle
• Peer Instruction
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ClassTalk - 1
“… teaching by questioning, commonly referred to as
the Socratic Method, was the basis for
ClassTalk
- a networked software system that facilitates the
Socratic teacher by providing an effective way to
manage an interactive class and involve every student
…”
Louis Abrahamson, Better Education Inc.
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ClassTalk - 2
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ClassTalk -Benefits
“…students chatted with each other, discussing answers. A swarm of
wrong answers brings out sprinklings of laughter, applause or boos …”
“… it made class fun … I knew I wouldn’t just be listening to a lecture
but rather that I could actively participate in my learning …”
“... raised levels of creativity… wonderful chaos...“
“… now I can not only correct misunderstandings … but students
become ... excited about classroom work … not only student
performance, but my confidence rise dramatically …”
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Personal Response System (PRS)
PRS was developed by Professor
Nelson Cue at Hong Kong University of
Technology and has now been adopted
by hundreds of educators worldwide
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InterActive Session
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Why do you like that class?
“ … with 100 people in the class you normally just sit there
without being involved... and add to your notes. In that
class everybody’s involved, you have to think about
what’s being said...you have to stay awake...but it’s more
fun, you get more from it...better than just sitting taking
notes…”
“… what fun it can be, it can be light-hearted yet you still
learn a lot …”
“… how quickly a two-hour class passed compared to
other one hour lecture classes…”
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WebCT
Puzzles
Warms-ups
Just In Time Teaching
(JITT)
Good-fors
Drum-Beats
Physlets
Homework-Helpers
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Classroom Performance
System (CPS)
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TI - Navigator
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